Today’s case involves an appeal that was neither sustained nor rejected. The Administrative Appeals Office instead sent the case back to the director who denied it. We don’t see many of these but they do happen.
In this case the U.S. citizen petitioner applied to the Vermont Service Center for a K1 visa for his Moroccan fiance. Unfortunately the petitioner didn’t submit any supporting evidence. The form I-129F is pretty clear about what supporting evidence is required and therefore it should be no surprise that this petition was denied. On appeal the petitioner provided copies of his U.S. passport and naturalization certificate passport photos for him and his fiance the G-325A’s his divorce decree and proof of having met in person in the last two years.
However the petitioner did not provide a copy of the beneficiary’s divorce decree or a statement from the Moroccan fiance indicating her intent to marry the U.S. citizen petitioner within 90 days of entering the United States. There are so many supporting documents you need to provide it is easy to miss something. In this case the petitioner provided absolutely nothing other than the I-129F and a check for the fee.
It appears that the director should have sent the petitioner an RFE (Request for Evidence) instead of a denial letter. It is common for the USCIS to send out RFE’s for missing information. In this case perhaps the USCIS employee was just frustrated that the petitioner obviously didn’t even read the instructions and so he just denied the petition.
If the appeal ruling the officer remanded the case back to the director and asked the director to issue a RFE for divorce decree and letter of intent to marry.
